In June 2025, the US Treasury Department designated Vector Casa de Bolsa, founded by Alfonso Romoformer head of the Office of the Presidency in the government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador; CIBanco, from the businessman Jorge Rangel of Alba Brunel, and Intercam, from the businessman Eduardo García Lecuona Mayeur, as financial institutions of “main concern” for alleged illicit operations linked to the Sinaloa Cartel, as well as bribes to former Secretary of Security, Genaro García Luna, imprisoned in that country.
The sanction occurred in the midst of the strategy that President Donald Trump undertook to weaken the financial structure of organizations such as the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, Sinaloa Cartel and Gulf Cartel, previously named Foreign Terrorist Organizations (OTE).
Seven months after the case was revealed, the banks had consequences: CiBanco was sold to Grupo Multiva and the National Banking and Securities Commission (CNByV) intervened and revoked Casa Vector’s license, but there are no known criminal actions for this case and under these conditions Mexico will face its evaluation of anti-money laundering controls.
Gabriel Regino, criminal lawyer and professor at the UNAM Law School, believes that the review of Mexico will detect the persistence of gaps in institutions and legislation that effectively stop asset laundering.
“The evidence indicates that controls are lacking and there are vulnerable activities that continue to be carried out outside the margins of the law,” he says in an interview.
Why will Mexico be evaluated by FATF?
The FATF is an intergovernmental body created in 1989 to indicate international measures and standards that stop money laundering linked to drug trafficking, illicit arms trafficking, cyber fraud and other crimes; 200 countries committed to adopting its recommendations, so their measures are reviewed periodically.
Currently there are 40 recommendations to comply with that have been perfected over the years because criminal groups have also sophisticated their mechanisms for laundering funds.
The FATF review consists of a visit by international experts who meet with different authorities, evaluating the legislation, the results that have been obtained, for example, in seizures, to see if the recommendations are being complied with.
In the most recent review, that of 2017-2018, there was not a good evaluation, so the SHCP requested the reclassification of seven of 16 recommendations that were classified as partially fulfilled (PC), and in 2021 it was reported that FATF determined that “Mexico has improved in six of the seven recommendations in which it requested reclassification.”
Currently, the Mexican Elisa de Anda Madrazo heads the FATF, so she will lead the group of experts that will carry out the evaluation of Mexico.
